Around 30 priests concelebrated with Archbishop Tomo, among whom were: Provincial of the Croatian Jesuits father Dalibor Renić, Dean of the Sutjeska Deanery, rev. Pero Brkić and the guardian of Sutjeska OFM Bono Tomić and a few of them who are natives of Borovica. About 40 nuns from different societies and about 1 000 believers who came from different parts of the world where they were scattered after the last war, also participated.

The believers were greeted at the beginning by the parish priest of Borovica, rev. Vlado Vrebac, mentioning that this parish was served by diocesan priests from its foundation in 1922 until 1950, and was then entrusted to the Jesuit fathers until 1989, after which it was once again managed by diocesan priests.

Return to your reality transformed

In the appropriate sermon, Msgr. Vukšić first sent congratulations on the occasion of the centenary of the existence of the parish and expressed his thanks to all those who knew how to fight back and “did not retaliate against the evil they suffered with evil, but persevered in kindness and were faithful to God's laws”, even though people often lived here in very difficult circumstances, trials and suffering. He also mentioned the priests who served in Borovica and contributed to the fact that many priestly and religious vocations originated from here.

He then focused on the meaning and importance of the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, indicating, based on the biblical readings, how it reveals the deep reality of Jesus “which his human face concealed”.

“Listen to Jesus because he is the Son of God! These divine words spread throughout the world only thanks to the testimony and proclamation of Jesus' disciples, and like an echo that spreads from the heights, they echo in the valleys. That's how they came to this mountain and echo from it for many centuries”, said the archbishop, saying: “Let us all listen to him, that is, adopt his words as the rules of our lives, so that we can return from this mountain, transformed and similar to him, to places where we live and work. And let everyone else also obey him, so that the evils that are committed by those who do not obey God's commandments and are not faithful to his teachings will never happen to anyone again.”

Finally, Msgr. Vukšić reminded of the fact that after the event of transfiguration, Jesus returns from Mount Tabor to the difficult reality that, after torment and death, was about to happen to him in Jerusalem soon. “Similarly, we, his disciples of this time, probably brought before the face of God our fears, insecurities, dilemmas, failures, wishes, thanks, requests, plans and intentions. That is, as the apostle Paul would say, everyone brought their own 'birth pains' in which every creature groans (Romans 8:22). And, after the encounter with Christ and friendly association with people, we will come down from this mountain and everyone will return to the reality of their lives. And there: Listen to Him! Wherever you go and whatever you do, listen to Him and be His witnesses”, said the archbishop of Vrhbosna.

Refuge of 1993

At the end of the Holy Mass, parish priest Vlado expressed his thanks to all those who, in any way, contributed to the organization of the centenary celebration of the parish during the three years of preparation. Then the godfather and godmother of the church, Stanko and Silvija Nikolić, presented a gift to Archbishop Tomo - an artistic painting of the church in Borovica, and father Mirko Nikolić, in the name of all vocations of Borovica, and in a special way the Jesuit fathers, gave a chalice as a gift to the Archbishop.

Rev. Vrebac then presented appropriate gifts to former parish priests in Borovica: rev. Mato Majić and rev. Milan Blaha.

The Holy Mass celebration was animated by sister Julijana Djaković with the singing support of Sisters of Charity and nuns from different societies.

After the final blessing, there was a celebration and lunch for everyone under the tent.

By the way, Borovica is located at 1 300 meters above sea level, above the royal town of Bobovac and on the slopes of Zorkovica, Javorje and Lipničko brdo, and was founded in 1922 by separating some settlements from Kraljeva Sutjeska, which is about 15 km away.

Before the last war (1991), it had 1 511 believers, another two or three thousand were in different parts of the world. In October 1993, the forces of the Bosniak Army of BiH razed the parish church built in 1926 to the ground, and expelled or killed the parishioners. Today, about 50 Catholics live in Borovica, who are joined by many people of Borovica who are scattered all over the world who have not forgotten their native land.